Motto

Friday, 10 June 2011

The eruption of the Puyehue volcano in the Andes
mountains of southern Chile last weekend provided some spectacular images of
the force of nature. Ash covers the landscape and thousands of people were
evacuated from the surrounding rural communities. The volcano, which hasn't
been active since 1960 when it erupted after an earthquake, sent its plume of
ash 6 miles high across Argentina and toward the Atlantic Ocean. -- Lloyd
Young (32
photos total)

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Smoke rises Monday from Indonesia's Mount Merapi, one of the
world's most volatile and dangerous volcanoes. Thousands of people living on the
volcano's fertile slopes began evacuating as Merapi started erupting Tuesday,
sending hot ash and rocks high in the air. (See an Indonesia map.)

"The energy is building up. ... We hope it will
release slowly," Indonesian-government volcanologist Surono told
reporters, according to the Associated Press. "Otherwise we're looking at
a potentially huge eruption, bigger than anything we've seen in years."

Meanwhile, officials in western Indonesia are racing to
deal with the aftermath of a deadly tsunami that struck the remote Mentawai Islands late Monday,
killing at least 113 and leaving hundreds more missing. The killer wave,
triggered by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake centered offshore of the island of Sumatra, had
many recalling the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which
devastated the same region.

While it's unclear whether Monday's earthquake and the
Merapi volcano eruption are linked, neither event is uncommon in Indonesia. The
archipelago sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a series of fault lines that
stretches from the Pacific coasts of the Americas through Japan and into
Southeast Asia. (See "Deadly
Java Quake Highlights "Ring of Fire" Dangers.")

Merapi is considered the most active volcano in
Indonesia, according to the Jakarta Post. The peak last erupted in 2006, when showers of hot
debris killed two people. A 1994 eruption caused the volcano's dome to
collapse, killing 70, and an eruption in 1930 killed more than 1,300.

Indonesian women carry bundles of grass to feed their
cattle as the Mount Merapi volcano smokes in the background on October 20.

Despite advance warning of the explosive eruptions that
spewed from Merapi on October 26, many villagers chose to stay on the volcano
until as late as possible to tend to crops and livestock, according to the New
York Times.

Priyadi Kardono, spokesperson for Indonesia's Disaster
Management Agency, said that about half of the people in the threatened area
had been evacuated by the time the eruptions started, although a baby died of
smoke inhalation during the journey down the mountain.

A closeup of the peak of Mount Merapi shows smoke billowing
from the volcano on October 26. Volcanologists monitoring the peak
recorded a doubling of seismic activity and increased deformation of the lava
dome between the Thursday and Sunday before the Tuesday eruption, the Jakarta
Post reported.

On Monday Indonesian officials put the region on the highest alert
possible and ordered evacuations—hours before the volcano erupted.

Tuesday's eruptions could be a warning of a huge blast—or
a sign that the volcano will slowly let off steam. "It's too early to
know for sure," government volcanologist Gede Swantika told the AP.
"But if it continues like this for a while, we are looking at a slow, long
eruption."

Past
Pyrotechnics on Merapi

Photograph by
Purwowiyoto, AP

Living up to its name, Mount Merapi—"fire
mountain" in Javanese—erupts in June 2006.

Carving its slopes with steppes, farmers have set up
croplands and villages as far up Mount Merapi's ridges as possible (file
photo). The attraction of Merapi's rich volcanic soils is apparently greater
than the threat of burning lava, toxic gas, or smothering mud from one of the
word's most active and dangerous volcanoes.

Festooned with fake money and surrounded by offerings of
corn and cabbage, a miniature "volcano" gets a kingly conveyance to a
river near Mount Merapi (file photo). Traditionally, the entire array is tossed
into the water to appease the active Indonesian volcano.

To mystically minded Javans, it pays to stay on Merapi's
good side. As a major source of the island's fertile, ash-infused soil, the
mountain occasionally threatens death but almost constantly brings life.